Mumbai, July 23: A special court on Thursday decided the trial in the Mumbai terrorist attacks case would continue and the confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only gunman on trial for the attacks, would be considered later.
Special Judge M L Tahilyani ordered that Kasab’s confession would be made part of court record and considered later. “Witnesses will be examined and the trial will continue,” said Justice Tahilyani.
The court ruled that it was not time to give a verdict in the case.
The judge, explaining his decision to Kasab said, “Aap ke khilaaf 86 charges frame kiye the. Apne sab nahin kabule hain, lekin gunaah kabool kiya hai. Isiliye court ne decision liya hai ki yeh case chalega. (There were 86 charges framed against you. You have not pleaded guilty to all of them and only to the basic offence. That is why the court has taken the decision to continue with the trial).”
To this, Kasab just said, “Theek hai. (All right).”
Senior lawyers like Satish Manshinde agree with the court’s decision, saying, “Kasab’s statement cannot be treated as confession, and the prosecution still has a lot of work to do.”
Meanwhile, Kasab’s lawyer Abbas Kazmi gave a twist to the dramatic court hearings when the told the court he was willing to withdraw from the case as his client had “lack of confidence” in him.
However, he got no measure of sympathy from the prosecution.
“Kasab’s lawyer has done a drama saying that he may want to withdraw from the case as Kasab has no faith in him. On the contrary, Kasab said he has complete faith in his lawyer. A lawyer appearing in a crime case cant quit unless the client chooses to do so,” said Special Public Prosecutor in the case, Ujjwal Nikam.
In another development, the prosecution had argued on Wednesday that Kasab’s admission of guilt be taken on record but the trial should be allowed to continue since the gunman had not admitted to his guilt in all the offences in which he was involved.
Nikam had also sought to ensure that the prosecution be allowed to use Kasab’s confession – made in an open court – when it wanted to do so.
However, Kazmi had argued that Kasab should be sentenced if his plea was accepted, else, the court should reject it and not take the statement on record at all.
“The court has accepted that he did not accept guilt for the entire incident and did not admit to all the charges. The court has said that his admission of the guilt can be taken on record and will be considered at a later stage. The prosecution’s stance is totally vindicated by the order of the court,” Nikam added.
Kasab on Tuesday stunned the special court set up in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail when he confessed to his role in the attacks.
“Whatever I have done, I have done in this world and this world should punish me. I don’t want god’s (divine) punishment. But, if somebody feels that I have confessed to escape the death penalty, then sentence me to death penalty,” he told the court on Wednesday.
Kasab, 21, has been charged with 86 separate offences, including murder and waging war against India.
He was arrested early morning of November 27 after he and nine other terrorists landed in Mumbai by boat from Karachi on the night of November 26. The terrorists struck at 13 places in the city and by the time the siege ended over 150 were dead.
–Agencies